July 14, 2003
Giacomo and Filomenia Rauti are the most engaging of people, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to find that a cadre of interesting characters usually surrounds them. The genial host and hostess of the superb Donatello restaurant on Elm Street, also happen to be the ‘parents’ of the irrepressible Shih-Tzu dog, Chiquita.
It’s always my pleasure to run into either Rauti in College Park where I sometimes exercise my little dog Kiko. They are so interesting to talk to, and Kiko is not so secretly in love with the highly energetic Chiquita.
With so many people around them, something has always happened to someone somewhere, and the stories about all are spellbinding. Giacomo, (Jack for short) chef supreme at work, relaxes over the barbecue on his days off. Thirty or so attendees make the average guest list in the Rauti’s Oakville backyard--and that’s not counting the children.
Giacomo, born to tempt tastebuds, is also an accomplished mechanic in his own right, and has the restored vintage cars to prove it.
He’s one of those rare types to share culinary tips and is not the least bit intimidating as a teacher.
"It’s all in the sauce," he told me when I was raving about the scampi we shared together over a recent dinner at Donatello. The sauce in question was a magical mix of cream and Pernod. The success of his confections comes from the golden rule of keeping it simple. When I told him that I as a gourmet cook, sometimes worry about having certain people for dinner, he told me in his charming Italian accent, "a leetle salt makes all the difference."
No matter how exotic the rest of the ingredients, if your sauce is not as good as you expected to be after a taste, toss in even a "leetle" salt. In order to illustrate his point, he told me, "Just think about it, what good is the most exquisite of steaks without just a "leetle" salt.
The night he invited me to join him for supper, I felt like visiting royalty. A few mussels in the most tempting of sauces, roasted red peppers unlike any I had ever eaten, and shrimps sautéed in Pernod started off a dinner of scampi, scallops, and salmon.
With utter patience, he explained why there is never a need to thicken a sauce with flour: "Better to add a fine port to a mushroom sauce, for example. Besides, flour isn’t a good thing to be putting into your system when there’s no need to."
It reminded me of a day last winter when I ran into his wife Filomenia in the park. Some people were coming for dinner and I had plain old pork roast. "I wish I could ask your husband for an exotic recipe," I said. "Well, I can already hear what he’d tell you, ‘Keep it simple’", said Filomenia. Reluctantly, I put the roast into the oven with only a little salt and pepper. It was delicious, but hard to explain when a guest asked for the recipe!
In addition to the spectacular food, supping with Giacomo is like going to a wonderful play. Remembering some of the fascinating clientele who have followed him to a variety of restaurants over the years, he told me about the wonderful Fergie.
Many moons ago, when Giacomo owned a Yorkville bistro, Fergie was a regular. "Over the years, she got to know me really well and she always called me ‘my son’, once even to my own mother and it was a good thing she didn’t understand English," he chuckled.
In those days, there was always a quartet. Fergie, who was always the life of the party, would dance. When she started coming to the restaurant, Fergie was in love with a certain gentleman, who felt the same way about her. For whatever reason, the couple never connected. In time Fergie married someone else and so did he. Many many years passed by and Fergie’s husband died. A few years later, so did the gentleman’s wife.
"One day they rediscovered each other and got married. They were married for 11 happy years and they always came to the restaurant," Giacomo fondly recalled.
"Once there came a mysterious gap, and I ran into her husband who told me Fergie was very ill in hospital. He was worried because she wasn’t eating. Between the two of us, we delivered my food to the hospital. Sometimes I would take it myself. When things got too busy, I’d arrange for him to pick it up and take it to her."
In this chapter of their lives, Fergie rallied, got better, and was soon back at her favourite restaurant. Fergie, it seemed, was not only the life of the party, but sparked life among others.
One sad day, Giacomo looked up and saw the husband, for the first time minus Fergie.
"Where is she? I asked. She died at midnight last night," he told me."
Then there was a heart tugging stretch where the husband would come to the restaurant only to be where Fergie had been, to sit alone. After about a year of this, he died."
Giacomo is convinced it was a case of a lonely husband giving up the ghost to be with his adored wife.
Giacomo, who never forgot the life of the party insisting he was her son, concludes: "There are some people you meet in this life who never die."
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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